The cloudy skies on the drive to Public Square Park was a premonition for the night to come.
This week’s lineup of Live on the Green, which included All Them Witches, The Features and headliners Capital Cities, was dampened by stormy weather, and mediocre performances.
The audience consisted of college students and 20-somethings who waited in anticipation. As the time neared 6:30 p.m. Nashville-bred All Them Witches finally took the stage. The front half of the crowd rose to its feet while the back half lounged around on blankets and chairs.
The sound was heavily electric with minimal singing, including a harmonica player tossed into the mix, which was a unique claim to fame for the group.
Three songs into the set, the previously gray skies gave way to darker, more sinister colors as rain began to drop. For 10 minutes, the crowd stuck around and dealt with the rain, which was splattering water on their clothes and iPhones, all in favor of the music.
In a matter of minutes, the drizzle became a full downpour, causing a large majority of the crowd fled to the shelter of the food tents and trees around the edges of the park.
While the rain continued to pour for the rest of All Them Witches’ set, only the most dedicated remained in the park, with the rest leaving to find drier evening activities.
However, even the most passionate fans couldn’t avoid the rain on their parades.
“It was unfortunate, Capital Cities didn’t actually play most of their songs…[they] were all pre-recorded backing tracks,” said Taran Savole, a devoted and disappointed fan.
What would have been an eye-opening night of unique music turned into an epic of fans sprinting for the nearest food tent to take shelter, and attempting to shield themselves from the downpour.
Live On The Green closes next week with a three-day music festival featuring Johnnyswim, Delta Spirit and Cage the Elephant on Thursday; Augustana, G. Love and Special Sauce and The Wild Feathers on Friday; and Phin, Sugar and the Hi-Lows, Ingrid Michaelson, LP, The Lone Bellow and Jake Bugg on Saturday.
The jam-packed lineup of next week creates hope for a much more enjoyable concert experience compared to the torrential downpours of this week’s Live On The Green.
This review was written by staff writer Annie Ketchmark.